The incident happened at the 55-story Madison Avenue hotel on Feb. 25. Ironically, the posh 5-star hotel is located across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Leuenberger's tirade was directed at bell captain Mike Murray, who admitted that his priest had gone a bit overboard with the ashes that morning.

"My priest did a real number on me," he told The Daily News with a laugh.

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. It marks the beginning of Lent for Catholics, a 40-day period of penance that ends on Easter.